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"Struggling to get pregnant, or being unable to carry a baby to full-term, can be heartbreaking.Couples go to great lengths -- and sometimes great expense -- to start a family.But for some women, the answer could be as simple as the food they eat and the products they use.Click here to watch video WESH 2's Meredith McDonough spoke with a local woman who shared her story from heartache to happiness. \u00A0Vicky Crust is full of happiness and expecting her first child this summer. But to get here, the 34-year-old has endured two miscarriages, which she now attributes to celiac disease -- a condition she didn't know she had that interferes with the body's ability to absorb essential nutrients.Crust went from doctor to doctor as her symptoms became more profound in her 20s. \u00A0She suffered from abdominal pain, constipation, weight loss and a skin rash that overtook her nose, mouth and legs.\"It's not just an itch on the outside, I felt like I wanted to take a knife and scratch my skin with it,\" Crust said.During this painful time, Crust and her husband were also trying to conceive.\"I got pregnant twice and wasn't able to carry full term. I was devastated, you know. It was hard,\" Crust said.Dr. Christine Greves, an OB-GYN at Winnie Palmer in Orlando, said women with unexplained infertility often go undiagnosed because celiac disease can be tough to spot. \u00A0\"Not everybody has symptoms. Not everybody may have the rash, the diarrhea, just overall weakness and other manifestations of celiac disease,\" Greves said.In 2010, Crust was diagnosed with celiac disease and her doctors at the Mayo Clinic believed that because she was otherwise healthy, she could have a successful pregnancy if she adopted a gluten-free lifestyle.That meant no wheat, rye or barley. \u00A0Crust stocked her refrigerator with organic food and bought a host of gluten-free products from shampoo to toothpaste.It worked. Crust's rash healed, her stomach pains disappeared, and she got pregnant.\"My life is great now. I couldn't conceive before and now I am six months pregnant,\" she said.While there is a link between celiac disease and unexplained infertility, doctors said there still needs to be more research. But it is worth asking your physician about.\"I've taken care of women who have celiac disease and they were able to carry their pregnancy throughout because they maintained their gluten-free diet,\" Greves said.Gluten-free living has given Crust a new motto -- \"Be braver than you are.\"\u00A0 Her son will be a constant reminder of that mantra: She and her husband have named him Brave.To see symptoms of celiac disease, click here.For information on celiac specialists in Orlando, click here."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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